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This chapter describes the Peking opera star, both as a national celebrity and as a character on the stage. As stars and their images circulated throughout the nation, they became subjected to endless gossip and scrutiny, publicity that manifested the close interconnection between a growing commercial investment and the public's increasing emotional investment in these national figures. The attention paid to stars' personal lives and political commitments in the tabloid press not only informs people of the networks of patronage and influence to which stars were indebted; it also intersects...

This chapter describes the Peking opera star, both as a national celebrity and as a character on the stage. As stars and their images circulated throughout the nation, they became subjected to endless gossip and scrutiny, publicity that manifested the close interconnection between a growing commercial investment and the public's increasing emotional investment in these national figures. The attention paid to stars' personal lives and political commitments in the tabloid press not only informs people of the networks of patronage and influence to which stars were indebted; it also intersects with an increasing emphasis on the actor's ability to convey the deep emotional interiority of characters onstage.